Think about the last good story someone told you. Maybe a friend described a wild weekend trip and the smell of the campfire, the color of the sunset, and the scratchy feel of a sleeping bag. Or maybe they focused on how excited they felt, what they were thinking, and why the experience mattered to them. Both versions could be about the exact same trip, but according to new brain science, your brain would store those two versions very differently.
In late 2025, researchers at McGill University in Canada published a study in JNeurosci, The Journal of Neuroscience that reveals something surprising: the style of a story—not just the story itself—can change which memory networks your brain uses to hold onto it.
Two Kinds of Details
To understand the study, it helps to know that storytellers generally use two kinds of details:
Perceptual details describe what you can see, hear, smell, taste or touch—the physical, sensory world. For example: “I remember the two-foot-long pepper mill the waiter used to season our dishes. My spaghetti noodles were swirled around three meatballs on my plate” (qtd. in Parshall).
Conceptual details describe thoughts, feelings, and interpretations—the inner, emotional world. For example: “I remember thinking to myself how delicious the pasta was. Looking back, I’m not sure if it was because I was starving or because the food was actually that good” (qtd. in Parshall).
In the study, 35 participants listened to short, everyday stories about things like going grocery shopping, heading to the airport, or grabbing dinner at a restaurant while they lay inside a brain scanner called an fMRI machine. Each story had two versions: one loaded with perceptual details and one loaded with conceptual details. The core plot of each story was identical. Only the type of details changed.
Afterward, participants were asked to retell the stories from memory.
Two Different Brains at Work
Here is where things get fascinating. When the brain scanner recorded what was happening as people listened, it showed that the two types of stories lit up different networks inside the brain.
At the center of memory formation is a small structure called the hippocampus. Think of it as the brain’s filing clerk. It doesn’t store memories by itself, but it helps organize and file them into different regions throughout the brain. The key finding was that the hippocampus filed the two types of stories in very different places.
When people heard conceptual stories—the feelings-and-thoughts kind—their hippocampus teamed up with a group of brain areas called the default mode network (DMN). The DMN is like your brain’s “daydream zone.” It’s active when you’re thinking about yourself, imagining the future or processing emotions. It’s the part of your brain that lights up when you reflect on what something means to you.
When people heard perceptual stories—the sights-and-sounds kind—the hippocampus instead connected with brain regions that handle sensory information, including one called the left angular gyrus, which is known to help store memories involving details from multiple senses, like combining what you saw and heard and felt all at once.
In short, feelings go one way and sensory details go another.
Same Memory, Different Confidence
Interestingly, participants remembered both types of stories about equally well when tested. So the style of a story didn’t make it harder or easier to remember overall. But there was a difference in how confident people felt about their memories.
People tended to prefer conceptual stories—the ones about thoughts and emotions—and felt more sure of those recollections. The researchers think this is because conceptual memories tap into the DMN, which is also closely tied to our sense of self. When a story connects to what you think and feel, it feels more personal and therefore easier to hold onto.
As Columbia University psychologist Chris Baldassano explained, a lot of what really sticks with us from a movie or a book is the conceptual stuff—the characters’ motivations, the social drama, the emotional arc—rather than every visual detail (Parshall).
Why This Matters for Different People
One of the most interesting parts of this research is what it suggests about different kinds of people—and people of different ages.
Senior researcher Signy Sheldon pointed out that people seem to be wired as either more “perceptual rememberers” or more “conceptual rememberers.” Some people naturally recall the sights and sounds of an experience, while others tend to remember what they felt and thought (“How Storytelling Style”).
Age plays a role too. Research shows that younger people tend to rely more on perceptual memory. They notice and remember the vivid, sensory details of new experiences. Older adults, on the other hand, tend to lean on conceptual memory more. They focus on the bigger picture, the meaning and the feelings rather than specific visual details. This may happen partly because many experiences feel less new as we age, so our brains shift toward remembering the gist of things rather than every detail (Parshall).
This has real-world applications. Sheldon’s team is hoping to study whether tailoring how information is presented—conceptually v. perceptually—could help people of different ages learn and remember more effectively. Imagine teachers, doctors or public speakers adjusting their style based on their audience. A doctor explaining a diagnosis might connect better with an older patient by describing what the illness will feel like, while a younger patient might benefit from a concrete, visual description of what’s happening in the body.
The Takeaway: Details Are Memory Hooks
The research makes one thing clear: details matter. Whether they’re sensory or emotional, details give your brain more “hooks” to hold onto when filing a memory away (Parshall). The more specific and meaningful the details in a story, the easier it is to find and retrieve that memory later.
So the next time you’re trying to explain something important to a friend, or you want someone to really remember what you’re saying, think about which kind of details you’re using. Are you painting a picture with sights and sounds? Or are you sharing what it felt like on the inside?
Either way, your listener’s brain is taking note—just in different zip codes.
Works Cited
“How Storytelling Style Shapes the Way the Brain Forms Memories.” Neuroscience News, 20 Oct. 2025, https://neurosciencenews.com/storytelling-memory-neuroscience-29835/.
Parshall, Allison. “Brains Remember Stories Differently Based on How They Were Told.” Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2025, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/storytelling-methods-alter-how-memories-are-stored-in-the-brain/.